Father Stephen P. KelleyI was setting up to celebrate Mass at one of our nursing homes this week, and I often just chat with the people while I’m setting up; we talk about the saint of the day, or the pope. And someone asked, “Do you think the pope is going to be liberal or conservative?” Well, that was pretty direct. So, I smiled and said, “I think he’s going to be Catholic. He’s going to be orthodox. He’s going to teach the Catholic faith. And so, he’s probably going to make fans and enemies of both liberals and conservatives, if he does it right.” They liked that answer.
I mentioned this to you all summer long as I ran the series of Catholic Social teaching in over 12 weeks in the bulletin column. Of course I had to summarize a lot, so reading the whole document of the bishops’ “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship” for yourself would be better. But you can see that Catholic Teaching and political parties don’t line up. No Catholic following Church teaching can wave the flag of any political party without some qualifications and exceptions. And that’s how Catholics participate in politics. We have the Church social teaching giving us a worldview of right and wrong, how to apply Church teaching to certain moral and political matters (immigration, economics, education, family, healthcare, etc.). And we vote according to our well-formed conscience for the party (or better, the particular candidates) that we believe will best pursue and produce the Catholic vision of a just and moral society serving the common good. We don’t vote for everything a party advocates, and indeed we must object to a good portion of what any party advocates. But we can also try to influence the parties to abandon immoral policies in their platforms. This is the role of religion in the public square. We believe it not because it’s religion, but because our religion teaches what is true, good and beautiful, purified from the human error and myopia of sin. And so I think, and hope and pray, that Pope Leo will be balanced and compelling in teaching the Catholic faith, and inspiring Catholics to do so as well.
Of course, we cannot be hearers and not doers. We must be disciples, students, not just believers, because you can believe and not follow. We can give into the temptation to judge the Church by our politics, instead of judging politics by our Church. I heard that in the first vote of the conclave, part of the College of Cardinals wanted a more traditional pope, and part of the College wanted a more progressive pope, and they quickly found out (let’s say, guided by the Holy Spirit) they weren’t going to elect any pope unless they worked together to select someone not only in the center that could lead the whole Church, but the someone that the Holy Spirit was guiding them to select. Thus, white smoke, and Pope Leo XIV. Let us pray fervently for the pope, and the Church, that we have a holy pastor and that his holy sheep follow him.
But as I said a moment ago, that’s not easy. Because the world has its own categories, its own agenda, its own values, and its own power, and it doesn’t like competition, such as the Church. That’s why following Christ is always going to involve the cross. I love the phrase that “the cross is where divine love meets human sinfulness.” It was true for Christ on the cross, dying for our sins, even as he was being tortured and mocked. It can be true in our spiritual lives, as our cross can be our spiritual battle between our desire to love God and still face temptation and choose sin. And it is true when we try to live out and share the Gospel in the world. There’s a beautiful quote from the Old Testament book of Sirach, which is written from a father to his son, and Sirach says, “My child, when you come to serve the Lord, prepare yourself for trials.” The New American Bible has a footnote to this verse which says, “Serving the Lord is not without its trials; but no matter what happens, the genuine believer will remain sincere, steadfast, and faithful. Misfortune and humiliation are means of purification to prove one’s worth. [Sirach] believed that patience and unwavering trust in God are ultimately rewarded with the benefits of God’s mercy and of lasting joy.” As we grow in our spiritual life, grow in our relationship with God, and our following the Holy Spirit, our trials will also grow.
In our first reading this weekend, Paul and Barnabas are proclaiming the Good News and forming disciples, meaning teaching them the faith. Now, pause a moment. We know that it’s a common saying that “your best days are ahead of you,” and that’s beautiful and encouraging. But as a Christian, growing in faith, yes, your best days are ahead of you. But your hardest days are ahead of you, too. Days where you’re really holding on to the cross, really enduring through difficult experiences, trials and persecutions, for trying to follow Christ and the Holy Spirit among those who only look to worldly reason and worldly methods and solutions. And as Christians, this shouldn’t surprise or shock us. We should expect it. It’s part of the package deal of being fallen people called to perfection and perfect love in a fallen world.
So in our first reading when Paul and Barnabas are called upon to “strengthen the spirits of the disciples, and exhorting them to persevere in the faith,” they tell the disciples, “It is necessary for us to undergo many hardships to enter the kingdom of God.” Now for us, that probably doesn’t sound encouraging or strengthen our spirits. But for Christians in a non-Christian world, this is supposed to be the suffering we glory in. St. James says, “Consider it all joy, my brothers, when you encounter various trials, for you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. And let perseverance be perfect, so that you may be perfect and complete.” St. Paul says, “we even boast of our afflictions, knowing that affliction produces endurance, and endurance, proven character, and proven character, hope, and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the holy Spirit that has been given to us.”
For the best example, obviously, we turn to the Lord. Jesus, in our Gospel reading from John, is preparing His disciples, His students, for His Passion. Judas has just left, kicking off the events that, as soon as the Last Supper is over, leads to Jesus being arrested, tried, tortured, and killed. He knows this. He wills this, in unity with the Father. Jesus is going to the cross to glorify the Father. Jesus is going to totally trust His whole life to the Father’s love, that’s glorifying the Father. And Jesus has a lot more to offer than any of us. Because not only is He the perfect human being, and carrying all the sinfulness of humanity, He is also divine and infinite, and so Jesus is offering an infinite sacrifice to the Father, to the glory of His love and mercy. And He is perfectly confident, and predicts—because Jesus never gives a prediction of His suffering and death without including—His resurrection. Which is the Father, in response, glorifying the Son, for His obedience, His trust and love, and His great work of redeeming humanity by His love for us, the love of God poured out into the world by Christ. This is really a sign of the Holy Trinity: The Father loving and glorifying the Son, the Son in response loving and glorifying the Father, and round and round for eternity in an exchange that is the glory and love of the Holy Spirit.
This is the first half of our Gospel reading. In the second half, Jesus gives us a new commandment. It’s not really a new commandment, but a new depth, a new level of perfection to the commandments we already have, the love of God and the love of neighbor. In our love of God, we are called to follow Christ in glorifying the Father as He did: trusting everything to Him, offering everything to Him, in perfect love. And we are called to follow Christ in a new level of love of others. We are not only to love others as ourselves, but also to love as Jesus has loved us. “I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another.” What does that mean? In humble service, in giving everything without counting the cost, in trusting God, in opening ourselves up to suffer, but also opening ourselves up to receive all the love that God wants to give us, and then pouring that divine “agape” love out into the world, and then being refilled again by God’s love, and repeating that into the eternal bliss of love. It’s like our participation in the glory and love of the Holy Trinity. It’s not easy. It’s difficult. It’s suffering. It’s sacrifice. It’s the cross—where divine love (poured into our hearts) meets human sinfulness (in the world, including in ourselves).
But it’s the true and perfect commandment of love. And it’s the trademark sign of being a disciple of Jesus. “This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” Disciples means students. As holy students of our holy teacher, we deny ourselves, pick up our crosses daily, and follow Him. When we’re in trials, we respond with love—with His love. When we’re being persecuted, mocked, and hated, we respond with humble love. When we’re being tortured or even killed, we respond in love. Victorious love. Faith, hope, and love, and the greatest of these is love. Divine love. Behold God’s love for you. Go and do likewise.
(Father Kelley is the pastor of St. Francis Xavier Parish in Gettysburg.)
By Father Stephen P. Kelley, Special to The Witness
